Seat construction

ABSTRACT

A seat construction comprising a frame including a base and a back. Each of the base and back have a frame with spaced siderails and a spring assembly mounted on the frame. Each spring assembly comprises a plurality of longitudinally extending wires, a plurality of transversely spaced wires having intermediate portions extending between the spaced wires and free ends extending beyond the longitudinally extending wires at an acute angle to the intermediate portion. Each spring assembly further comprises a longitudinal wire along each side edge connecting the free ends of said transversely spaced wires. Each spring assembly is resiliently supported on its respective frame.

atet

Tischler Feb. 1,1972

[73] Assignee: Gulf 81 Western Metals Forming Company, Southfield, Mich.

[22] Filed: Apr.6,1970

[2|] AppLNo; 25,832

3,005,213 10/1961 Brown et al 297/452 3,088,773 5/1963 Horrocks et al.. 297/452 X 3,111,690 l l/l963 Tarlow 297/DlG 1 3,248,745 5/1966 Gunlock ..297/454 X FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 241,054 3/1960 Australia .297/452 Primary ExaminerPaul R. Gilliam Attorney-Bames, Kisselle, Raisch & Choate [57] ABSTRACT A seat construction comprising a frame including a base and a back. Each of the base and back have a frame with spaced siderails and a spring assembly mounted on the frame. Each spring assembly comprises a plurality of longitudinally extending wires, a plurality of transversely spaced wires having intermediate portions extending between the spaced wires and free ends extending beyond the longitudinally extending wires at an acute angle to the intermediate portion. Each spring assembly further comprises a longitudinal wire along each side edge connecting the free ends of said transversely spaced wires. Each spring assembly is resiliently supported on its respective frame.

14 Claims, 15 Drawing Figures mimenrw H972 3.639002 SHEET 2 0F 7 ATTORNEYS PATENTED Fm I 1972 SHEET 3 [IF 7 INVENTOR Hf/V/W J: 77667: [R

ATTORNEYS PATENTEDFEB H972 3.639.002

SHEET a UF- 7 INVENTOR ///V/?) I TASCY/Zffi ATTOR NEYS PATENIEU FEB 1:972

SHEET 6 0F 7 INVENTOR A/[A/A .1 7736794 [F BY g M M m ATTORNEYS SEAT CONSTRUCTION This invention relates to seat construction and particularly to spring seat construction.

Conventional types of seat construction comprise coiled springs, sinuous springs, combinations of coiled and sinuous springs and the like.

Among the objects of the invention are to provide a novel seat construction which utilizes longitudinally and transversely extending straight wires connected to form a spring assembly which is resiliently mounted on a frame, which seat construction is thinner than conventional constructions and yet at the same time produces the same luxurious feel on the occupant; which can be produced at low cost; which eliminates parts and which can be readily adjusted to produce varying degrees of resiliency and support.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A seat construction comprising a frame including a base and back. Each of the base and back have a frame with spaced siderails and a spring assembly mounted on the frame. Each spring assembly comprises a plurality of longitudinally extending wires, a plurality of transversely spaced wires having intermediate portions extending between the spaced wires and free ends extending beyond the longitudinally extending wires at an acute angle to the intermediate portion. Each spring assembly further comprises a longitudinal wire along each side edge connecting the free ends of said transversely spaced wires. Each spring assembly is resiliently supported on its respective frame by sinuous spring elements.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG I is a side elevational view of a seat embodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is a part sectional plan view of the seat base, parts being broken away.

FIG. 2A is sectional view of the intermediate wire connecnon.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 3-3 in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along in line 4-4 in FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 5-5 in FIG. 2, parts being broken away.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a portion of the seat shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a spring element utilized in the seat showing the element prior to being bent to the final form.

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary front elevational view of the seat back portion of the seat, parts being broken away.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view taken along the line 99 in FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along the line l0l0 in FIG. 8.

FIG. 11 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along the line llllinFlG.8. I

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along the line l2l2 in FIG. 11.

FIG. 13 is a plan view of a spring element utilized in the seat prior to its being bent in final form.

FIG. 14 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along the line l4-l4 in FIG. 8.

DESCRIPTION Referring to FIG. I, the seat embodying the invention comprises a seat base 10 and a seat back 11 that may be fixed or pivoted relative to one another by appropriately mounting their frames in accordance with well-known construction.

Each of the seat base 10 and seat back 11 is of generally similar construction.

Referring to FIG. 3, the seat base 10 comprises a frame 11 including spaced siderails 13. The seat back 10 further comprises a spring assembly 14 that is resiliently mounted on the rails 13 by sinuous spring elements 15, as presently described (FIGS. 2 and 3).

Spring assembly 14 comprises spaced longitudinally extending wires 16 of oil-tempered steel having a paper wrapping l7 and spaced transversely extending wires 18 of oil-tempered steel. Wires I8 include intermediate portions 19, the ends of which are wound around the wires 16 (FIG. 2A) and extend in a free manner as at 20 at an acute angle to the general plane of the intermediate portions 19 (FIG. 3). The free ends of portions 20 are attached by a single loop about additional longitudinally spaced wires 21 of paper cord or the like.

The spring elements 15 comprise a plurality of rectangular loops forming one or more V-shaped sections and have varying configurations at their longitudinally spaced connection to the intermediate wires 16. Thus the elements at the middle of the seat have the configuration such as in FIG. 3 comprising rectangularly shaped loops including a first loop 22 that is hooked into a clip 23 on the frame rail 13, a second loop 24 extending upwardly and inwardly, a generally horizontal third loop 25, an upwardly and outwardly inclined fourth loop 26, an inwardly and upwardly inclined fifth loop 27, and an upwardly and outwardly inclined sixth loop 28. A U-shaped clip 29 is provided on the end of the spring element 150 and extends generally vertically with its plane at a right angle to the plane of the loop 28 to engage the wires 16. The sinuous spring element 15a thus comprises four generally V-shaped portions, one of which forms an obtuse angle as at 30, the others of which form acute angles as at 31, 32.

The sinuous element 15b at the front end of the seat is shown in FIG. 4 and is generally similar and includes a first horizontal loop 33, a second upwardly and inwardly inclined loop 34, a third upwardly and outwardly inclined loop 35, a fourth upwardly and inwardly inclined loop 36, and a fifth generally horizontal loop 37 having a clip 38 thereon for engaging the wire 16. This spring element thus forms three V- shaped portions 39, 40, 41, each of which defines an acute angle.

The spring element 150 at the rear end of the seat base is similar except that it comprises a lesser number of loops as shown in FIG. 5 and 6 including a first loop 42, a second upwardly and outwardly inclined loop 43, a third generally horizontal loop 44 having the clip 45 thereon engaging the wire 16.

The spring element 15c is made of a single piece of wire such as shown in FIG. 7 which is formed into generally rectangular loops including transverse torsion bars 46, 47, 48 and 49 connected by longitudinally extending bars including a curved bar 50, straight bars 51, 52, and a U-shaped portion defining the clip 45. The sinuous element is bent to proper shape by twisting about transverse bars 47, 48 and 49 as well as about a connecting bar 52 that connects the loop 45 with the transverse bar 49. The arrangement is adapted to hook onto an inclined portion 54 of the base rail 13 as shown in FIG. 6 to connect to the wire 16.

The construction of the seat back 11 is similar to that of the seat base 10 and is shown in FIGS. 8-14. Referring to FIG. 8, the seat back 11 includes a frame 59 having spaced siderails 60, a spring assembly 61 which is resiliently supported on the rails 60 by a plurality of longitudinally spaced sinuous springs 62.

As in the previous form of the invention, the spring assembly 61 comprises a plurality of spaced longitudinally extending oil-tempered steel wires 63 that are wrapped with paper 64 and a plurality of closely spaced tranversely extending oil-tempered steel wires 65, each of which comprises an intermediate portion 66. The wires 65 are wrapped around the wires 63 and have free ends 67 extending upwardly and out wardly to form an acute angle with the general plane of the intermediate portions as shown in FIG. 9. Spring assembly 61 further includes a wire-wrapped longitudinally extending intermediate wire 68, the paper of which is pierced by the wires 65, and paper wire elements 69 about which the ends of the free portions 67 are looped.

Each of the sinuous elements 62 is of varying configurations depending upon the degree of resiliency and distance that the portion of the spring assembly is to be mounted with respect to the frame. As shown in FIG. 9, the spring element 62a at the intermediate portion of the seat comprise a first loop 70 that has a transverse bar 71 that clips through a retaining clip 72, a second loop 73 forming an obtuse angle with the loop 70, a third loop 74 extending outwardly and away from the frame and forming an acute angle with the loop 73, a fourth loop 75 forming an angle with the loop 74 and also extending outwardly, and a clip 76 forming a right angle to the plane of the loop 75 and engaging the wire 61.

As shown in FIG. 11, the sinuous element at the base of the seat back is generally similar and comprises a first loop 78, a second loop 79 extending outwardly away from the frame and inwardly with respect to the seat and at an obtuse angle to the loop 78, third, fourth and fifth loops 80, 81 and 82 lying in the same general plane and extending outwardly and away from the frame, and a clip 83 engaging the wire 63. The sinuous elements are made of generally rectangular loops. Thus, for example, the sinuous element shown in F168. 11, 12 and 13 comprises a single wire including transverse bars 84, 85, 86, 87, 88 and 89 connected by a curved longitudinal wire 90, straight longitudinal bars 91, 92, 93 and 94, respectively. The clip 83 is connected to the transverse bar 89.

In each of the forms of the invention, the foam material may be cast about the spring assemblies with the free portions entirely embedded in the foam material, the outer configuration of the foam material simulating the final shape of the seat.

By varying the inclination of the free portions of the transverse wires with respect to the intermediate portions, a varying shape and feel may be provided to the seat back and seat base. Similarly, by varying the configuration of the sinuous elements, varying degrees of resiliency may be achieved.

As shown in FIG. 8, a portion of the spring assembly includes wire elements 66' which terminate at the wire 63 and extend upwardly to form a support for the foam material which serves as a headrest formed integrally with the seat. It should be understood that upholstery material or trim is provided overlying the foam material in accordance with wellknown practice.

lclaim:

1. In a seat construction, a spring assembly comprising a pair of longitudinally extending wires,

a plurality of transversely extending spaced spring wires,

portions of said transversely extending spaced spring wires being wound around said longitudinally extending wires to define an intermediate portion extending between the spaced longitudinally extending wires and connected thereto and free ends extending beyond the longitudinally extending wires at an acute angle to the intermediate pornon,

an additional longitudinally extending wire connecting the free ends of said transversely extending spring wires along each said first mentioned longitudinally extending wire.

2. The combination set forth in claim 1 including a covering on said first-mentioned longitudinally extending wires.

3. The combination set forth in claim 27 wherein said covering comprises paper.

4. The combination set forth in claim 1 including additional longitudinal extending elements intermediate said first-mentioned longitudinally extending elements and pierced by said spaced wires.

5. The combination set forth in claim 1 including a border wire connecting said second-mentioned longitudinally extending wires.

6. in a seat construction, a spring assembly comprising a pair of longitudinally extending wires,

a plurality of transversely extending spaced spring wires,

portions of said transversely extending spaced spring wires being wound around said longitudinally extending wires to define an intermediate portion extending between the spaced longitudinally extending wires and connected thereto and free ends extending beyond the longitudinally extending wires at an acute angle to the intermediate portion an additional longitudinally extending wire connecting the free ends of said transversely extending spring wires along each said first-mentioned longitudinally extending wire,

a body of foam plastic material in which substantially the entire spring assembly is embedded. 7. The combination set forth in claim 6 wherein said intermediate portions of said spaced wires are substantially adjacent one surface of said body.

8. The combination set forth in claim 6 including a frame on which said body is supported.

9. The combination set forth in claim 8 including means for supporting said spring assembly resiliently on said frame.

10. The combination set forth in claim 9 wherein said lastmentioned means comprises sinuous wire elements at longitudinally spaced points upon said frame,

said sinuous wire elements comprising load members and torsion bars connected to one another in sinuous fashion,

one end of each said sinuous wire element being connected to said frame and the other end being connected to one of said first-mentioned longitudinally extending wires.

11. The combination set forth in claim 10 wherein said sinuous wire elements comprise straight load bars and straight torsion bars.

12. The combination set forth in claim 8 including a covering on said first-mentioned longitudinally extending wires.

13. The combination set forth in claim 8 including additional longitudinally extending elements intermediate said first-mentioned longitudinally extending elements and pierced by said spaced wires.

14. The combination set forth in claim 8 including a border wire connecting said second-mentioned longitudinally extending wires. 

1. In a seat construction, a spring assembly comprising a pair of longitudinally extending wires, a plurality of transversely extending spaced spring wires, portions of said transversely extending spaced spring wires being wound around said longitudinally extending wires to define an intermediate portion extending between the spaced longitudinally extending wires and connected thereto and free ends extending beyond the longitudinally extending wires at an acute angle to the intermediate portion, an additional longitudinally extending wire connecting the free ends of said transversely extending Spring wires along each said first-mentioned longitudinally extending wire.
 2. The combination set forth in claim 1 including a covering on said first-mentioned longitudinally extending wires.
 3. The combination set forth in claim 27 wherein said covering comprises paper.
 4. The combination set forth in claim 1 including additional longitudinal extending elements intermediate said first-mentioned longitudinally extending elements and pierced by said spaced wires.
 5. The combination set forth in claim 1 including a border wire connecting said second-mentioned longitudinally extending wires.
 6. In a seat construction, a spring assembly comprising a pair of longitudinally extending wires, a plurality of transversely extending spaced spring wires, portions of said transversely extending spaced spring wires being wound around said longitudinally extending wires to define an intermediate portion extending between the spaced longitudinally extending wires and connected thereto and free ends extending beyond the longitudinally extending wires at an acute angle to the intermediate portion, an additional longitudinally extending wire connecting the free ends of said transversely extending spring wires along each said first-mentioned longitudinally extending wire, a body of foam plastic material in which substantially the entire spring assembly is embedded.
 7. The combination set forth in claim 6 wherein said intermediate portions of said spaced wires are substantially adjacent one surface of said body.
 8. The combination set forth in claim 6 including a frame on which said body is supported.
 9. The combination set forth in claim 8 including means for supporting said spring assembly resiliently on said frame.
 10. The combination set forth in claim 9 wherein said last-mentioned means comprises sinuous wire elements at longitudinally spaced points upon said frame, said sinuous wire elements comprising load members and torsion bars connected to one another in sinuous fashion, one end of each said sinuous wire element being connected to said frame and the other end being connected to one of said first-mentioned longitudinally extending wires.
 11. The combination set forth in claim 10 wherein said sinuous wire elements comprise straight load bars and straight torsion bars.
 12. The combination set forth in claim 8 including a covering on said first-mentioned longitudinally extending wires.
 13. The combination set forth in claim 8 including additional longitudinally extending elements intermediate said first-mentioned longitudinally extending elements and pierced by said spaced wires.
 14. The combination set forth in claim 8 including a border wire connecting said second-mentioned longitudinally extending wires. 